Do you think that once a drug stops being fun and becomes a priority then you have a problem?
I used to have this problem with MDMA, cannabis, DXM and cocaine.
I THOUGHT everything was fine, but people kept telling me that I was an addict and needed to straighten my life out.

Now, as a medical marijuana patient, weed is all I need and once in a while I drink alcohol and take psychedelics.

MDMA has regained its magic, cocaine is rare for me and DXM almost killed me so I dramatically decreased my use to almost never.

Im just throwing this topic out there and gonna see where it goes. Im pretty sure im allowed to post this topic as Ive googled it millions of times and got no straight answer.

Its about time someone put this out there.

Strange that you've gotten no straight answer, because it seems like that's the basic definition of unhealthy use of anything (i.e. not just substances but food, gambling, shopping etc).

If you're doing something compulsively and not getting actual enjoyment out of it then yes, that behaviour is not in a healthy balance, and could potentially be termed as addictive.

Also, while there are some exceptions like Salvia, with substances, repeated, frequent use generally leads to increased tolerance, requiring larger and larger doses to approximate a similar effect, and with larger doses come more side effects and health impacts, etc.

Mindful and informed use of medicines ftw

There are different metrics to say when it's a problem. According to Dr. Gabor Mate, for example, when one of your first thoughts are about the drug, you have the problem.

This is my case. I love Kratom and when I wake up, I plan a day and immediately think when it will be best to take kratom. Then I know I have a problem.

Fortunately, leaving or travelling for a while basically removes the need, it's more compulsory than full on addiction, but still.

It also fortunately loses its magic gradually so then there its opportunity to ween off.

I found I have only problems with stimulants and drugs that make you productive (Guarana, Coffee, Maca, Astragalus, Modafinil you name it...). As a workaholic, it's not that much a problem with substance abuse than abusing my body and pushing myself to be super productive all the time, feeling inferior and not a valuable person when not doing the work

I guess there is always an underlying psychological problem...

I don't know if I would frame it as "always a problem", but the thing is that these medicines can help you do lots of different things. If you approach your activity with the perspective of self love and self healing, I believe you get a very different result. I know self love and self healing might not be compatible with increased productivity, but that's worth thinking hard about, is it not?

Its hard to ever really define if you have a problem with drugs or not, the mainstream would convince you of such a thing because casual recreational drug use is rarely spoken about much, and there are lots of rehabs in the world. personally, I think use that interferes with your live, regardless of whether its a priority or not, but again, rather look into overall health, I know people who where technically healthier as drug addicts, they stopped whatever they where addicted to but overcompensated with food or sex or any other compulsive behaviour

I don't think OPs question as presented can be readily answered, but if we consider it in terms of "rewarding activities" acting upon a "reward system/neural substrate" that is "plastic/responsive", we have a body of evidence which can readily predict the chain of events that result. The issue of when it becomes a "problem" is also multi-layered, as a clear problem developing in the "background" without ascending to ones consciousness is still a problem-in-evolution.

To compound things further, getting high once in a while after a period of admittedly problematic use will perturb the reward system in a way that initial use of the same substance will not (leading to such phrases as "once an alcoholic/junky, always an alcoholic/junky"; glib phrases with a lot of truth but not incontrovertible).

Here is a good paper which considers the neuropsychological background in a fairly accessible way; although it focuses on a subset of behavioural addictions, the parallels with drug addictions in terms of underlying neural function/maladaptation are striking, and open up new dimensions when considering the OPs query:


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih...pmc/articles/PMC4600144/

a life in balance is a happy life , it looks like you are achieving more of that for yourself which could be taken as a sign of maturation .

it sounds to me , from reading you post carefully you already know the answers and are well on your way to cementing this into your reality as a truth , abiding by the truths we are summon is a whole nother can of worms in itself. that is where we build character or seek help . the big business of rehab does not exist because this game is easy .

familiarity breeds contempt but all work and no play makes jack a dull boy . you may find that a life which hangs in balance is a stable fulfilling life. if we pay attention and it sounds like you are doing just that our systems are pretty good at self regulating , the thing is that there substances by there nature and function do a very good job at flipping off those switches put in place to keep us aware there is an issue. this is where doing what you did today , putting it "out there " as you said could be the first step to cementing your theory into life truth for you and manifesting change for others in need of a similar message .

i admire how easy it can be for you , all of us are not that gifted .

Thanks but in my world there is never time for self healing. It's always survival and maximum possible pace. Especially now after first burnout I found another hobby I tried to make into living, but that requires even more evergy and more caffeine and energizers, yet the endeavor failed again. If only there will be time to slow down... but the bills won't wait.

It would seem to me that if you're not getting any fun out of a drug, but still using it compulsively, that constitutes some sort of addiction (or at the very least a problem).